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Thursday, April 25, 2002 |
I hope you have a great day tomorrow. If you don't, feel free to take out your frustrations on Ant City. A great Friday distraction!
11:44:57 PM Permanent link here
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I'm fascinated by Habbo Hotel, and I'd live to see 16-year old Clare and her friends interact in it.
"At Habbo Hotel you can interact with other people just as you would offline, except that you are not limited by anything like location or time.
Habbo Hotel is a chill-out space where you can hang out with your friends. Guests are represented in the hotel by a personal figure called a Habbo. This hotel is primarily for teens in the UK, but everyone is welcome.
Habbo Hotel isn't just about chatting. You actually walk or dance your way between bars, clubs, pubs and games halls. If you want to speak to someone, you have to be standing near enough for them hear you, unless you want to shout. Just as you'd get a drink in a normal café or pub, you can order one at one of our bars - just one thing: Habbo Hotel is alcohol-free.
You only tell people as much about yourself as you want, so no one's going to judge you - just chat from an equal basis, right from the start.
It's not hard to break into conversation for the first time - just walk right up and introduce yourself and you'll soon find a friend who has something in common with you. And you don't have to chat to everyone, or anyone! We do our best to keep the place safe, and nobody can gain access to your instant messenger account on your Habbo Console unless you authorise it - see our Habbo Pledge.
Although only people you give permission to can send you messages on the Habbo Console, it allows you to send email and SMS without sharing your personal details. You can take your own room at the hotel too, and that, likewise, can be open to all, a few or none - just as you want.
So use the hotel for whatever you want - as a messenger, email system, chatroom, place to hang out with your friends or to meet new people. It's up to you. Habbo Hotel is a place where you can be whoever you want to be. And yes, there are a few rules, but only to make the experience safe and fun for as many Habbos as possible. Enjoy!" [via MetaFilter]
As I write this, there are 815 Habbos in the hotel, 437 in private rooms, 25 in Club Massiva, 15 in the Warner Village Cinema, 12 in the Dirty Duck Pub, 28 in the Sunny Delight Lido, and 0 in the kitchen. I started out by reading the current newsletter, which for all intents and purposes, is in a foreign language to someone my age. Check out these quotes:
"100 Creds goes to lad4u with 'if ur in a bit of a bobba just call a hobba'. Skill!"
"jon31 with 'TV: 3 creds, Stool: 1 cred, Friends: Priceless'. Awww, sweet."
But if you back up to that last full paragraph, you'll notice that you can visit the "Sunny Delight Lido" (I and II). That's because this site isn't just a hangout, it's also a marketplace. Well, maybe not really a marketplace but it's definitely got billboards and street cart vendors. For example, Habbo partners with mobiletones.com to offer more than 8,000 ringtones and logos for cellphones. And what about SunnyD? Their logo is on the front page, and it's a link to a poll that lets you vote for your favorite flavor. And the "creds" mentioned above? Habbo currency you can win in order to buy things.
It's all part of the multiple persona life of teenagers, who seamlessly move between different online handles and accounts. It's a new wave of marketing that's incredibly focused. It's probably also fun, since then are more than 800 people using it right now.
10:58:39 PM Permanent link here
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"Best decided to do something about that. His new Web site (DonorsChoose.org) is not just helping—directly helping—New York City kids, it may eventually change the face of philanthropy. I know, because I tried it.
Like all revolutionary ideas, Best’s is deceptively simple. His site—a model of user-friendliness—asks New York City public school teachers to write a one-page summary of class projects and the amount of money it would cost to fund them. Potential donors scan the list and decide which project to fund. No contrived grant applications. No fancy buildings full of grant reviewers and well-paid foundation executives. No grant-making process at all.
So far, more than 130 teacher projects have been funded, in amounts ranging from $70 for some books to $12,000 for laptops for students in an economics class, funded entirely by a Seattle entrepreneur. The tax-deductible money goes through Best’s registered 501[c](3) (until recently run out of his lower Manhattan apartment). Unless the donor specifically chooses to contribute 10 percent extra for administration, not a penny goes for overhead. That compares to 35 percent for many charities. After the books, equipment, field trips, etc. (I’m not doing justice to the creativity of the projects) are purchased, the teacher sends a receipt to DonorsChoose, plus thank-you notes from the kids and photographs of them using the gift. All of this is then forwarded to the satisfied donor....
So far, donors in 23 states have funded everything from sports programs for schools displaced by the attack on the World Trade Center to oxygen meters for a science class measuring pollution in the Bronx River to life-size “Baby Think It Over” dolls designed to show preteens what they’re in for if they get pregnant. DonorsChoose screens the teachers’ proposals and won’t post any that are too outlandish, like the one from a teacher who sought $50,000 for a culinary excursion to Paris.
I logged on to DonorsChoose.org with the idea of doing something in the arts and humanities. At first I thought about contributing a portion of the cost of establishing an architects-in-residence program, but I decided I wanted to start out trying to fund something all by myself. Some bookbinding equipment for an art class looked intriguing but was too pricey. After an enjoyable tour of the teachers’ proposals, I settled on buying a class of students at Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx copies of a moving and important chronicle of World War I that I first encountered in high school—“All Quiet on the Western Front....”
Best’s concept is beginning to spread to other cities. Teachers in Washington, Los Angeles and Cincinnati are starting their own versions of DonorsChoose.org, and there’s interest in using the technology to build international understanding. Recently, Muslim students at a school in Kuwait received a stack of books on New York City to supplement their reading of the Koran." [MSNBC]
I'm posting a long excerpt from this article because it's such a great idea that I want it to get all the press it can. Where's Chicago on the list?
Reading this, I was also reminded of a web site that lets anyone pitch for funding and matches them up with people willing to provide the money. It's not a corporate site, but another way to get around bureaucracies. Of course, now I'm blanking out on the name of the site - does anyone know what I'm talking about?
10:19:04 PM Permanent link here
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"Online retailer Amazon.com is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence in a deal that will allow shoppers to pick up online book and music orders at their neighborhood Borders Book Shops.
In an announcement earlier this week, the two retailers unveiled an in-store pickup program that they hope will make it more convenient for customers to find the products they're looking for and give them an easy way to exchange or return online purchases in nearby stores....
Ann Binkley, a Borders spokesperson, says the new online capabilities will be ready at more than 365 Borders stores in November, just before the holiday shopping season....
Online shoppers will be able to research their book, CD, and DVD purchases online at Borders' site on Amazon.com, then check availability at as many as five local Borders retail stores based on their ZIP code. Customers can then choose an in-store pickup option so that books and other products will be held for them in the stores, Binkley says....
Merchandise will be priced at national Borders prices or at store prices, if they are lower. Customers will receive an e-mail confirmation of their orders, and while no shipping charges will apply, local taxes will be collected....
[Barrett Ladd quote] 'The whole 'order online and pick it up in the store' model is the next level of convenience that businesses can provide,' she says. 'It's just making sure that you don't have to take an unnecessary trip to the store. I think we'll see more deals like this.' " [PC World]
Are there any ILS vendors that provide the functionality for patrons to reserve books that are on shelf in a library's catalog?
10:07:15 PM Permanent link here
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"NTT DoCoMo, Japan's giant wireless carrier, said Thursday that it has launched a trial version of its forthcoming streaming video service.... The service, dubbed V-Live by the carrier, streams both live and archived video content to phones and PDAs via its third-generation (3G) FOMA system.
Full content won't be widely available until May 15, the company said. The content includes music, sports highlights, news and tourist information, the carrier said in a statement. After the trial period, the content will be available to those who subscribe to the V-Live service.
The company didn't divulge the cost of a subscription to the service.
In addition, so-called closed content also will be available, the company said. This type of content is available to customers who specifically pay content providers for it. Such content could include premium video, such as movies, or investment tips to brokerage customers. The content providers will charge end users for the closed content.
In addition, the operator said it would work with enterprises to make corporate content available to employees or customers.
The platform used for the service uses the MPEG-4 standard and must be delivered to specific video-enabled phones." [allNetDevices Wireless News]
9:59:21 PM Permanent link here
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"I've heard about some more Google API-inspired programs. These are live examples which give you the option to use your own key. If you have your own key I encourage you to use it; keys can only be used for 1000 queries a day. By using your key you conserve their queries.
The first two programs require IE5+ or Mozilla/Netscape 6 because of the DHTML they use. They worked fine in Mozilla 1.0 RC1.
GAWSH -- Google Web Search by Host -- http://www.staggernation.com/gawsh/
Enter a query and this tool lists the Web hosts that contain results for that query. Click on the triangle by the host and get a list of results for that host.
GARBO -- Google API Relation Browsing Outliner -- http://www.staggernation.com/garbo/
Enter an URL and choose whether you want pages related to that URL or linked to that URL. Get a list of linked or related URLs. Click on the triangle by a URL to get a list of pages linked/related to *that* URL, and on and on and on and on.
GAPS -- Google API Proximity Search -- http://www.staggernation.com/cgi-bin/gaps.cgi
A proximity search. Find term A within 1, 2, or 3 words or term B. You can add additional terms to the query and sort your results by proximity, URL, title, or ranking.
All three of the above programs have the Perl source codes available. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to them because the browser returned a 403 Forbidden error. (rename the source code files from cgi to txt, maybe?)" [ResearchBuzz]
Pretty sweet scripts, although my API key that works in Radio doesn't seem to work with them. I love the idea of integrating Google results into online bibliographies, Find-It! Illinois, LibraryU, our forthcoming extranet/intranet, and more.
9:35:54 PM Permanent link here
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"Is the plot thickening? A day after Samsung announces a new screen-thingie, they announce a licencing agreement with Picsel (thanks, KnowBetter) for e-reading technology. The article doesn’t make this connection, bloviating about cell phones instead, but I can’t help wondering." [Caveat Lector]
Here's some info from the press release:
"Picsel Technologies and Samsung Electronics announced today that Samsung has licensed Picsel's Interactive File Viewer (IFV) based on its innovative ePAGE(TM) architecture to deliver next generation/multimedia capability to Samsung Smartphones....
Picsel's IFV will allow users of Samsung mobile phones to enjoy unique user interface features and to download and interact with files in widely used formats such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, HTML, eBook, Adobe PDF, Kanji Support, streaming video standards, and 40 graphic and image formats.
The license agreement places Samsung as a Picsel Tier One partner. Under the license, Samsung may apply IFV to a variety of Smartphones, to be distributed worldwide, including CDMA and GSM standards in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Imran Khand, Chief Executive of Picsel, commented 'We are delighted to have Samsung, one of the world's leading mobile phone vendors, as a partner. Their use of our technology will deliver to their users a unique, user-friendly experience, giving a distinct value-add to their brand. Picsel's technology can be incorporated into all mobile phones and can take advantage of imminent 3G and GPRS developments.' "
I still don't think a dedicated ebook reader will make it, even with the multimedia content. It will have to do more than just books for the size of the Samsung device to be worth it. At that point, it's a small laptop or a big OQO, isn't it?
9:09:02 PM Permanent link here
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"For the past several weeks, the pseudonymous programmer, who says he's a male college student and declines to give his real name, has been releasing versions of popular file-swapping programs online with the advertising and user-tracking features stripped out.
He's done Grokster and iMesh. And he's not alone. His work, now available through the Grokster and iMesh networks themselves, joins that of other programmers who have previously 'cleaned' programs such as Kazaa and Audiogalaxy in a campaign against "adware" and 'spyware....'
The college student and his 'Clean Clients' site form just one part of a growing backlash against the software now routinely bundled with free file trading programs. These piggyback software packages, which include Gator, Cydoor, and others, often track computer users' activity online to show them targeted advertisements. In Altnet's case, the add-on promises to turn users' computers into links in a new for-profit peer-to-peer network....
Sharman Networks is fighting back. They've successfully had the Kazaa Lite software taken out of Download.com, a popular software aggregation site operated by News.com publisher CNET Networks. In a conference call Wednesday, Sharman's Hemming said the company was in the process of seeking cease-and-desist orders against everyone in the KazaaLite distribution chain--'the Muscovite and everybody, she said.
'They're essentially hackers and rippers,' Hemming said. 'Basically our brand name is being damaged quite significantly by these activities....'" [ZDNet, via Slashdot]
Karmic irony, yes. But again, this software is expanding into a void to fill a consumer need (or maybe "want" is a better term). When Gator first came out, I installed it because I could deal with the small ads it would pop up in the corner. Increasingly, it's gotten too annoying to even leave open at all when I'm surfing because the ads are bigger, more annoying, and more frequent.
During the last week or so, I've noticed that even when I shut down Gator, I still get ads popping up on specific sites. Somehow, it must have updated itself (the one time I opened it during the last month) and now it doesn't even need to be open in my systray. I call a personal foul on that one, so I'll be uninstalling it despite its utility. Actually, I haven't put any passwords in there in months, so they've annoyed themselves right out of my life.
8:53:54 PM Permanent link here
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The ether is abuzz with talk of Zoe:
"The goal here is to do for email (starting with your personal mailbox) what Google did for the web... The Google principle: It doesn't matter where information is because I can get to it with a keystroke.
So what is Zoe? Think about it as a sort of librarian, tirelessly, continuously, processing, slicing, indexing, organizing, your messages. The end result is this intertwingled web of information. Messages put in context. Your very own knowledge base accessible at your fingertip. No more "attending to" your messages. The messages organization is done automatically for you so as to not have the need to "manage" your email. Because once information is available at a keystroke, it doesn't matter in which folder you happened to file it two years ago. There is no folder. The information is always there. Accessible when you need it. In context.
Zoe is a email client. It's also a email server. And a long term archive. And a search engine. And an application server. All that at once on your desktop....
It allows you to keep your messages. Over time. For a long period of time. As long as there is some disk space somewhere. It's your personal archive. Always accessible. Always up. Always ready to migrate somewhere else if you choose to (see the email server part). It's your messages after all. Now you can sleep soundly without having to worry about how you will keep -over years, over jobs, over relocations- those hard won messages. They will go where ever you want them to go.
However, by now, it's more than just a big pile of random texts (aka emails). It has been fully indexed to the last significant bit. Information have been extracted. Relationships have been made. Links have been discovered. Information was put in context. Normalized. A knowledge base has been build. For you. Automatically. Accessible at a key stroke. When you need it. Without you moving any single one of your busy fingers to write some arcane filtering rules to some soon to be unmanageable folder structure (see "Intertwingularity") in some cumbersome proprietary email system. No. Instead you get universal accessibility to your very own knowledge base. Automatically. Just for you....
The main point is: you have your own personal "data center server" accessible from all over the planet. Instead of typing www.hotmail.com to check your email, you could very well instead connect directly to your own PC sitting in your very own living room from some internet cafe in the Australian outback...."
It's unclear to me whether this is going to run on my WinME PC at home, but I'll probably be trying it to find out because I'm so intrigued by this software. If nothing else, I'll definitely be installing it at work when my machine gets upgraded to Win2000 next month in order to test it. Did I mention this software is free for personal use?
Last year I bought Powermarks to manage my browser bookmarks because after six years, they were just too out of hand. The nice thing about PM is that you don't have to worry about filing bookmarks anymore. Instead, you can assign keywords to a site, and then when you go to search for something, you type a word in a box and it starts narrowing down the entire list of bookmarks to those that match your query. Type "g" and anything that doesn't start with that letter disappears from the list. Then type in "p" and it narrows down to everything that includes a word that starts with "gp." Add an "s" and then you've narrowed the thousands down to the few that contain "gps" in the site title or in the keywords.
It's a pretty powerful program and it's made life much easier. Many a time have I wished for this same capability in my email, considering that I've got 4,000 messages in my inbox at work alone. Maybe this is the answer!
8:31:54 PM Permanent link here
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 Medical PDAs - Prisms on Sale at Fry's
"The reason Doug wanted a PDA is because as a Clinical Pharmacist. All the doctors and medical students he works with everyday carry one. One of the Residents recently told him that most medical schools are requiring them because of the constantly updated information, which gets updated daily. It had seriously cut the cost of very expensive medical textbooks they were required to buy. A Palm-type PDA would replace about five books Doug drags to work everyday in order to have the dosing and diagnostic information he must have to help patients. For all the years we've been together, Doug going to work without his reference books, is like Doug going to work without his pants or a calculator. It just doesn't happen. So buying him a Prism at that price made sense. So... off to Fry's we went with the normal amount of trepidation necessary since we were walking into the belly of the beast.....
Since I'm the software geek in the family (Doug does hardware very well,) I checked out all the instructions and loaded up all the installers and drivers. Doug went online to find all the URL's of the software the medical students had told him about, and he decided what he wanted to download. I expected the credit card to come out, but much to my surprise all of the research books are FREE. (I computed this was over a $500-600 a year savings from the books he buys.) Picture me thrilled.
Over the next two hours I registered, downloaded and installed 8 programs and references onto the color Visor over the cable modem. I was amazed that on 8 MB model we bought, it was only 60% full when I finshed installing all his programs.
Now some two weeks later, Doug's been using it at work daily and it's been rock solid. It updates and charges every night when he comes home automatically in less than a hour. He's said carrying a Visor has really helped lighten his load to work and look ups on dosing are quicker. (However He refuses to give up his preprogrammed HP Calculator. Some habits die hard.) On a standard 10 hours shift, he's only using about 40% of the battery life, which amazed me.
And then the good news... this weekend we noticed that Fry's lowered the price AGAIN to $169. We returned to the store, invoice in hand and received the difference in cash and Doug decided to buy one for me. I was still unsure I wanted one, but he said-- "At this price, try it." So I took one home.
I've had it the since the weekend. For it's size and storage I'm honestly impressed. The Prism is rock solid and the color is beautiful. I have all ready transfered by Outlook Address Book, Datebook, Quicken expense reports and Acrobat files. That was a godsend, because I unloaded serious weight out of my purse. I've all ready loaded some of my client photos and notes from NAB and things I need to take to the Streaming Video Show today, including some press releases I'll be following up on at the show. This axed out another notebook and papers in my purse. (Scarey but I can see the bottom of my purse.) I still have memory to spare. To say we're thrilled would be an understatement. I just downloaded Klondike. ;-) " [Mary Wehmeier's Blog Du Jour]
7:55:18 PM Permanent link here
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Clarification: I'm getting some interesting comments responding to my question about using Google versus contacting your local public library. As usual, I didn't define my question well enough (I'm still learning how to ask broadcast blog questions), so let me narrow my request for comments to why you would use Google Answers instead of contacting your local library. I understand using Google for quick questions (I do this all of the time myself), but why would you put up a minimum of $4 to ask a question on their Answers service when you could just contact your library?
Big thanks to everyone that is responding!
7:26:10 PM Permanent link here
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" It was bound to happen — others had somewhat similar designs, but now there’s a high-quality, touch-screen wristwatch being produced in Switzerland — and I can report that it’s very, very cool....
But, the T-Touch is solid — a stainless steel case and bracelet — and it’s smart too.
As for the features, with a touch of the screen the T-Touch can tell you the time (obviously), date, temperature, barometric pressure, altitude, direction (compass) and it also controls alarm and chronograph (stopwatch) functions. My favorite function is the compass. I’ve seen watches that rotate hands when you press a button, but the T-Touch rotates then combines hands into a straight arrow pointing device, then the arrow floats on what seems to be a cushion of air as it points north. You also see your exact bearings readout on the LED screen. Really neat.
There are a lot of watches that can do some of these things, but none I’ve seen can do them with such finesse. Touching the screen is a light tap on the sapphire crystal, not a heavy push (or two) on a small button hidden somewhere on the side of other watches. The T-Touch is the kind of electronic device you’d expect from Swiss craftsmen without giving away the complexity inside. You have to try it for yourself to understand what I mean....
My big problem with the T-Touch? They’re charging too little for it. I even told the Tissot folks so. Tissot has set the U.S. retail price at $595." [MSNBC.com]
7:14:59 PM Permanent link here
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"Regis and Kelly launched the 'Reading with Ripa' Book Club today. 'It's time to close those books with deep, meaningful messages and open up to something more light, frivolous and fun!' The first book they'll read is If Looks Could Kill, a murder mystery by Kate White. Source: Live with Regis and Kelly" [via h2Oboro lib blog]
The anti-Oprah book club, just in time for summer reading. In another anti-Oprah move, Ripa's club is affiliated with Barnes & Noble, not Amazon. It will be interesting to see what - if any - impact Ripa's popularity as a host has on book sales. Still no partnering with libraries, though. Sigh.
6:48:33 PM Permanent link here
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"Google Answers. Google has just introduced a new service, called Google Answers. At the moment it is in beta, but has already attracted a fairly large userbase. It works like this: you submit your question to Google, and pay a 50c listing fee, and then you put a value on how much you think it is worth (between $4 and $50). Dedicated researchers can then try to answer the question and earn the cash (though Google takes a 25% cut). The user interface needs a bit of work, but that hasn't stopped me from being addicted to reading through the questions and answers." [kuro5hin.org]
"This is amazing. I had suggested a similar system back in 2000 when I was working for Aquent Parteners as a means of generating additional revenue for the experts that they had working for them at the time, as well as a means of getting good press for their talent, to show that they had skilled folks. It was shot down as a non starter. reason given: Revenue model was to hard to set up, combined with people reneging on agreed upon terms.
I sincerely hope Google makes this work, just as a proof of concept." [Ryan Greene's Radio Weblog]
Why? The proof of concept already exists, and it's called your local public library. Not only that, but you don't have to worry about inaccurate answers, half-answers that don't use "closed" resources such as subscription databases, payment, someone trying to sell you something, or time limits. Case in point:
Attract and Keep Customers: How Search Engines Rank Web Pages
"Search for anything using your favorite crawler-based search engine. Nearly instantly, the search engine will sort through the millions of pages it knows about and present you with ones that match your topic. The matches will even be ranked, so that the most relevant ones come first.
Of course, the search engines don't always get it right. Non-relevant pages make it through, and sometimes it may take a little more digging to find what you are looking for. But, by and large, search engines do an amazing job.
As WebCrawler founder Brian Pinkerton puts it, 'Imagine walking up to a librarian and saying, ‘travel.’ They’re going to look at you with a blank face.'
OK -- a librarian's not really going to stare at you with a vacant expression. Instead, they're going to ask you questions to better understand what you are looking for.
Unfortunately, search engines don't have the ability to ask a few questions to focus your search, as a librarian can. They also can't rely on judgment and past experience to rank web pages, in the way humans can." [e-commerce guide, via Daypop Search - librarian]
(Side note response to the article: librarians use subject headings, not titles, to find "travel." That's because we have indexes, we catalog, and we cross-reference. We don't just randomly search words wherever they might be found. That's why we're so much more efficient than simple keyword searches of million of items. We have a lot more in our arsenal than just judgment and past experience - we have training.)
You know, librarians are trained to do something called the "reference interview" in order to determine what a patron is truly looking for (not necessarily what they are asking for). We have studies, papers, conference sessions, trade articles, continuing education training, and more, all devoted to this topic. You simply can't beat us at this. When ALA says that "librarians are the ultimate search engine," they're not kidding. It's not a joke.
Why aren't you contacting your local public library instead of Google? That's an honest question - I really want to know.
12:47:53 PM Permanent link here
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"Fed up with Star Wars fan sites revealing plot secrets of his upcoming films, George Lucas dispatches two stormtroopers to take care of a list of unscrupulous webmasters.
That's the opening scene in Jeff Cioletti and Lou Tambone's four-minute film called Silent But Deadly, selected as one of the finalists in the first Star Wars Fan Film Awards sponsored by AtomFilms and Lucasfilm.
In the short, stormtroopers posing as pizza delivery boys, the Publisher's Clearinghouse prize patrol and plumbers haul away the offending webmasters to face their punishment. No, they don't meet their demise with Darth Vader; the hoods face an arguably worse fate by being forced to watch Howard the Duck, a forgettable film also produced by Lucas....
Filmmakers were invited to submit spoofs, parodies or documentaries with a Star Wars theme to the competition. All content had to be no racier than PG-13, and have the necessary legal paperwork completed.
About 250 fans submitted films. The companies narrowed the list to 44 finalists, which viewers can watch on the website for free. Winners will be announced and screened May 3 at the Lucasfilm official Star Wars Celebration II in Indianapolis. All finalists receive free passes to the event....
Winning films will also air on a Sci Fi Channel show about the contest. Director Kevin Smith will host the hour-long special on May 12." [Wired News]
Here's the full list of the films, although my favorite - Troops - isn't on there. Quelle dommage. I wonder if they didn't submit it because "AtomFilms licenses the rights to each film from the filmmaker for a period of several years, including the exclusive rights to market it in a variety of different media." You can find more fan films at TheForce.net. There goes your day....
8:26:11 AM Permanent link here
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"What the Net might look like in the overregulated next millennium: Snailmail from the 21st Century... May 1997." [Kottke.org]
"Renewal Notice for GlobeMind Internet Service
Your modem hardware identification number (HIN 5716-24456-19745) is currently registered to another party. The Social Security number of the owner of modem HIN 5716-24456-19745 does not match the SSN listed on your application. If you have purchased a modem from a licensed hardware reseller, the reseller may have already submitted the necessary paperwork to the FCC. Please send the certificate to us after you receive it. If you purchased the modem from an unauthorized party, then you have committed a federal crime and are instructed to stay where you are until the authorities come to get you. Your modem will be confiscated and you will be sent to a correctional boot camp....
In order to participate in Usenet discussion groups or to send email, GlobeMind members must show evidence of libel insurance. A photocopy of the policy is acceptable. In lieu of libel insurance, you can use a computer equipped with the QwikScrub system, which deletes obscenities and potentially inflammatory words as soon as they are typed.
NOTE: Libel insurance does not protect you from sending information contrary to the Unusual Information Prohibition Act of 1999, which outlaws the transmission of information pertaining to government conspiracies, alternative medicine, cults, or anything Senator Feinstein doesn't like." [by Mark Frauenfelder]
7:09:41 AM Permanent link here
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There were a lot of great stories and links I wish I'd had time to post tonight, but I just didn't. I do, however, want to leave you tonight with one story in particular. It's about why librarians are so crucial to the internet in particular, and information in general. Today on the WEB4LIB mailing list, Karen G. Schneider, the current head of the Librarians' Index to the Internet, explained just how much quality control goes into this resource. I invite you to read through this and be amazed. Be very amazed.
First post:
"Every week we run a report to show broken/moved links. In this past quarter, our Validation Report averaged 4% broken links--down from 5%--and that's doubly good, because we now do a trick with some URLs to extend their shelf life that ends up with them showing up as 302s when actually they're just fine. (It's triply good if you consider that not only our overall size, but also our rate of growth, have steadily grown over the past several years.) From talking to peers in the Web portal community, 4% reported broken links is highly respectable. I wish it were 0%, but then, most libraries only dream of the kind of production and data quality we sustain with the budget we have. (And of course, we ask indexers to inspect their batch of sites at least once a month, because any number of sites move or break and never show up on this report.)
A bit more: we have an active weeding/updating program, with both paid staff and volunteers participating in evaluating records, and run a weekly report of 404s, 302s, etc. We also have excellent documentation on how to use the report (crafted by a nationally-known writer <g> ), and we have checks and balances where, for example, indexers cannot contribute content if they rise above a certain percentage of reported errors in the Validation Report; we don't want people to slap records in and walk away (and in fact we have weeders periodically review the sites from indexers who are no longer with us). Our training emphasizes life cycle management, including an entire section in our course for indexers reserved for maintaining and replacing records. (And speaking of data quality, we also teach copyright, and we have an excellent Style Manual, if this nationally-known writer does say so herself.)..."
Second post:
"Incidentally, the former boss at lii.org--who is a great library leader and who I would not dream of disappointing by dorking up this wonderful resource--crunched some numbers while I was blathering.
Last Friday, lii.org had 69 404's ("broken links") out of 10786, for a percentage of .6% (six-tenths of one percent). Again, the real magic, which has been true of lii.org since birth, is that the quality continues to rise even as lii.org grows. That is because lii.org is a planned resource, with real management and oversight, not a pile of links on a page. It has had daily oversight for a decade.
Might I add, Carole is the senior indexer of all, with almost 1/3 of all sites in lii.org, and every week she puts in significant work (now volunteer!) grooming her excellent opus."
I included that last bit because Carole and her staff deserve a lot of credit for the herculean project they got off the ground. This is quite possibly the best quality control of any directory this size. Yahoo, shmahoo. No one is paying money to get into the LII, and press releases don't get you in there. If you're looking for a specific subject, this is an excellent starting point. See also Fiat Lux.
Librarians have a battery on our collective shoulder. C'mon - just try and knock it off.
12:30:35 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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